A Carriage Ride at Hitty Beth's Towpath Cottage!

Meeting Hitty Beth's New Little Sisters!

Hitty Beth at Towpath Cottage invited the Corgyncombe Hittys over to see her splendid horse and carriage!

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What fun it always is to visit Hitty Beth and her Mum at Towpath Cottage!!!

Hitty Beth's Towpath Cottage

Riding in the carriage are Hitty Beth's sweet little sisters Hitty Abby and Hitty Emily. Between them is Corgyncombe's little bitty Hitty. Corgyncombe's Bobby, Hitty Diane and Hitty Bug walk alongside the carriage. Hitty Beth leads the horse.

Corgyncombe's Bobby helps Hitty Abby out of the carriage.
Hitty Diane thinks Bobby is quite smitten with Hitty Abby!

Bobby surrounds himself with Hitty Beth's farm animals.

Corgyncombe's new lad pets Towpath Cottage's horse.

Hitty Beth's little sisters Hitty Emily and Hitty Abby around the Christmas tree in the parlour at Towpath Cottage.

 

In the background is the stairway that Bobby rushed up at Hitty Beth's Valentine's party a couple of years ago. In his haste to rush up the stairs to pick out the nicest Valentine for Hitty Diane, Bobby fell down the stairs and had to sit out the party with an ice bag on his head!

The lovely fireplace in the parlour at Towpath Cottage.

Last year after Hitty Bug first arrived at Corgyncombe, she and Hitty Diane set up their little play kitchen for tea, all decorated for Christmas, at Corgyncombe. Hitty Bug is named Hitty Bug because we think she is as "cute as a bug".

Merry Christmas to Hitty Beth, Hitty Abby and Hitty Emily, and their Mum!
Fondly,
Diane, Sarah and the Corgyncombe Hittys


Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-carriage-ride-at-hitty-beths-towpath.html
copyright © 2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
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Beatrix Potter's 150th Birthday Year Celebration!

Corgyncombe's High Dumpsie Dearie Roly Poly Pudding!

Corgyncombe's Tillie Tinkham.

It is Beatrix Potter's 150th Birthday Year!
Beatrix Potter was born July 28, 1866.
What joy she has brought into our lives through her stories and illustrations!

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Using my High Dumpsie Dearie jam, an old English jam, in a Roly Poly Pudding produced my creation of Corgyncombe High Dumpsie Dearie Roly Poly Pudding!
On the cup is Beatrix Potter's Flopsy Bunny standing by potted geraniums.

My daughter Sarah and I are admirers of Beatrix Potter and feel a kinship with her. We enjoyed teas, elevenishes and delightful conversations with Tasha Tudor. What fun it would have been to have had Beatrix Potter with us also... what we all together could have talked about... bunnies, gardens, ducks, old houses, old barns, and other aspects of country life and landscapes!

Tom Kitten looks longingly out the window alongside a bouquet of cosmos.

In Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding", published in 1908, Anna Maria the Rat steals some dough for a planned Roly-Poly Pudding. Samuel Whiskers the Rat steals the butter and the rolling pin from the dairy... a rolling pin being necessary to make a Roly-Poly pudding.

Tom Kitten attempted to hide from his Mum by going up the chimney. He was in hopes of getting to the roof where he could catch sparrows. Whilst working his way to the roof he accidentally fell into the Rat's room and was tied up by Anna Maria the Rat. Anna Maria's husband Samuel Whiskers requested that she make for him a "kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding". A butter covered Tom Kitten was then placed and wrapped in the dough, and then dough and Kitten were rolled with the "Roly-Poly" pin. Tom Kitten was to be a Roly-Poly Pudding!

High Dumpsie Dearie is an old English receipt for jam made with apples, pears, and plums with some bruised ginger.

Samuel Whiskers the Rat sitting by the "Roly-Poly" Pin with gathered vegetables, tomatoes and bread for his wife Anna Maria to steal away with.
Samuel Whiskers is a Beatrix Potter figurine based on her book.

Tom Kitten's sister Mittens, who had hidden away in the dairy, exclaimed to her mother that she had seen "a dreadful 'normous big rat" who swiped away a rolling pin and a pat of butter.

High Dumpsie Dearie makes your kitchen smell delightful!

I peeled, cut up, and weighed out two pounds of each of the fruit. I weighed the plate first and set the scale accordingly.

An old English Roly Poly Pudding tin.

The dough is rolled out and High Dumpsie Dearie jam is applied to the dough leaving the edges free.

A Corgyncombe High Dumpsie Dearie Roly Poly Pudding.

The dough is rolled up and the edges tucked in and then placed in the Roly Poly Pudding tin with a paper liner. The Roly Poly Pudding is steamed.

Corgyncombe High Dumpsie Dearie Roly Poly Pudding and chamomile tea in a Peter Rabbit cup at tea.

Nanny Nettie-Kin feeding her fowl cracked corn.
Nanny is wearing a Sontag that she spun and knit.
We love the book "Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life" by Marta McDowell.  Marta McDowell writes of Beatrix Potter's gardens through the seasons. Included are many drawings by Beatrix, photographs of flowers, and old photographs of Beatrix Potter.

Nanny Nettie-Kin's wheel is whirling as she is spinning yarn for her Sontag.

Beatrix Potter and I both have collected old spinning wheels!

Beatrix Potter, like Benjamin Bunny, wore clogs.

"The Tale of Benjamin Bunny" by Beatrix Potter.
See his little clogs!

Beatrix Bunny

Iron on the underside of the clogs.

From the Corgyncombe Vegetable Garden, radishes gathered in a trug with some fresh cut spearmint on the red and white spotted handkerchief. In Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", after eating lettuce and french beans, Peter Rabbit found some radishes and ate til he felt quite ill!

The red and white spotted handkerchief reminds me of Peter Rabbit's mum's red and white spotted handkerchief that was used by the little naughty bunnies, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, to gather onions in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny". The handkerchief is also seen in "The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle" as it has been laundered and folded by Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, who, alas, could not get the smell of onions out. Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle then delivered the handkerchief to the bunnies who were hiding amongst the ferns along the way and gladly received the laundered handkerchief.

My garden and sheep at pasture.

2013 was the 100th Anniversary of the publishing of Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Pigling Bland".
In the photograph of the figurines above, Pigling Bland's Mum is sending him off to market.

As a little girl, I always felt a strange mix of excitement and fear around my grandpa's pig pen. Perhaps it was the gap in the fence that had me worried!

Sarah feeding her ducks near my garden of herbs.

In Jemima Puddle-Duck, Jemima is sent by the fox Mr. Tod, to look for the herbs for stuffing..
The old apothecary jar holds sage from my garden of herbs.

At Christmastime I took some photographs of some of the old things and Beatrix Potter figurines on my cupboard. You can see the reflection of the sparkly Christmas tree lights in the glass and china. On the old apothecary jar filled with bay leaf, it looks like a twinkly waterfall coming down the jar between Rebeccah and Drake Puddle-Duck.

High Dumpsie Dearie is also delicious on biscuits at tea served on a Beatrix Potter plate. A Mrs. Rabbit figurine stands nearby with basket and umbrella. The teapot is one of Diane's favorite and has Jemima Puddle-duck and, as Beatrix Potter said, the "foxy-whiskered gentleman" walking about discussing things of importance, such as nesting. The "foxy-whiskered gentleman" was all too interested! There are foxgloves on either side of the Jemima Puddle-duck and the "foxy-whiskered gentleman".

My great wheel in the garret.

Plums in a favorite yellowware bowl with High Dumpsie Dearie jam alongside.

A Tussie Mussie of scented geranium flowers and leaves, camomile and lavender.

At Corgyncombe's Beatrix Potter Birthday Tea 2012, a tussie mussie was made using larkspur, lavender, thyme, winter savory, rosemary, wild marjoram, rose geranium leaves, and baby's breath all gathered from the Corgyncombe Garden of Herbs. The little mouse knitting is based upon Beatrix Potter's illustration of the "Old woman who lived in a shoe" in "Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes". It is one of our favorite Beatrix Potter illustrations! The little knitting mouse's cap reminds us of the white cap that our doll Bridget likes to wear. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" book on the table is a limited edition reproduction of Beatrix Potter's first privately printed Peter Rabbit book and has the original illustrations with Beatrix's own handwriting. The dust jacket is a reproduction of calico printed by Beatrix's grandfather's calico printworks. It is such a sweet book!

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our previous writings elsewhere on the internet.

Here are links to two previous

Beatrix Potter Birthday Celebrations

at the Corgyncombe Courant:

Beatrix Potter Birthday Celebration 2012!
Celebrating Lovely Kindred Interests!

Beatrix Potter Birthday Celebration!
A Dollhouse and A Little Mouse!

 

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com


http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2016/07/beatrix-potters-150th-birthday-year.html
copyright © 2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
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"Little Runt" by Della Lutes, An Old Fashioned Story!

Roast Pig for Thanksgiving Dinner!

A few weeks ago, whilst at one of The Corgyncombe Courant's favorite places for delightful finds, I stumbled across a book with a red plaid cover called "The Country Kitchen" by Della T. Lutes. They weren't going to sell it to me, as it didn't have a price, but after a bit of pleading they decided to sell it to me for $2.00. I had a book at home in The Corgyncombe Library that had a green and white gingham cover, called "Home Grown", and I knew that it just had to be by the same author. In "The Country Kitchen" and "Home Grown", Della Thompson Lutes writes from her memories of life as a child in the 1870s living in Michigan. In both books she includes recipes or receipts as they were known in the old days. Both of Della Lutes' books were ex-library books... discarded I suppose because no one checked them out of the library, and I'm sure that the library had more, ahem, "exciting" books to replace them with. Well, welcome they are indeed at The Corgyncombe Library!

In "The Country Kitchen" there is a special Thanksgiving story, titled "Little Runt". As Della Lutes explains herself: "That year a young sow mistook, in the exuberance of her youth, the proper season for mating and, in early fall, presented herself with a lively litter of thirteen husky pigs. All but the thirteenth. The thirteenth was one too many for the calculations of nature and he, being shriveled and feeble was rooted out of place by the others and repudiated by his mother."

"Little Runt", as he was called, was brought into the kitchen where he was warmed and fed by sucking warm milk from Delly's mother's finger. Little Runt grew and thrived and became like a pet to Delly and her Mother. Delly took great delight in bathing him and tying a pink ribbon about his neck to give him a festive look. Her Father wanted to fatten the pig up for Thanksgiving dinner. Father kept looking at recipe books for ideas on how to roast a pig and how to make the stuffing. Father was intent upon impressing Uncle Frank with a superior roast pig and insisted that Little Runt be fed the best of food. Father had had roast pig at Uncle Frank's house and thought it an inferior meal and laid it to the fact that Frank was too cheap to feed the pig properly. As Della Lutes wrote: "So Little Runt was fed on sweet milk, fresh cornmeal, and vegetables and he throve to a state of porcine beauty beyond all rightful expectation, considering his early state."


As a little girl Diane always felt a strange mix of excitement and fear around her grandpa's pig pen. Perhaps it was the gap in the fence that had Diane worried.

Little Runt followed the women folk around and after awhile, when Father started scratching his back, Little Runt followed him around, too. Delly couldn't understand how her father could even consider eating Little Runt but father seemed obsessed with having Little Runt as roast pig for the Thanksgiving table.

As Thanksgiving approached Mother took all of Father's licking his chops over Little Runt, with guarded but cool, quiet reserve until Thanksgiving Day when Father had served all his other guests and told Mother he was going to cut her "a nice juicy slice"...


At Corgyncombe Cottage we always have turkey for the Thanksgiving meal.

The Corgyncombe Courant loves this story and knows that its readers will enjoy it, too!

Where we have left off talking about the story is on page 237.
Oh my, as you read on in Della's book, what an unexpected ending to Little Runt becoming the highlight of Thankgiving dinner!!!

Here's the link to the book, you can read almost the entire story, but alas, take note, some pages are missing:
"Little Runt" by Della T. Lutes in "The Country Kitchen"

Tasha Tudor also wrote and illustrated a little book about a special, friendly pig named Dorcas Porkus who wore a collar and wasn't at all fond of baths.


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